Journalists return from Iraq - North County Times reporters documented election

By: BEN FRUMIN - Staff Writer | Sunday, February 20, 2005 8:52 PM PST ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- After five weeks of recording history halfway around the world, two North County Times journalists are back on American soil.

North County Times reporter Darrin Mortenson and photographer Hayne Palmour returned with hundreds of Marines Saturday evening from their third trip to Iraq in the last two years.

For the last several weeks, the journalists shadowed members of the Camp Pendleton-based 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit as the Marines worked to rebuild the region of Najaf, about 100 miles southwest of Baghdad.

The journalists said Sunday that their latest adventure brought closure to their mission to document the Iraq war, which they chronicled from the invasion of 2003 to last month's elections.

"It's history," Mortenson said. "That's what I signed on for, was to be the guy who gets to see it and write it down. We felt really privileged to witness it."

Mortenson and Palmour first went to Iraq in March 2003 during the American invasion and traveled with Camp Pendleton Marines from the Kuwait-Iraq border to Baghdad. In February 2004, the duo returned to Iraq, where they were two of the only journalists in the Fallujah area during deadly insurgent attacks and a bloody Marine invasion of the lawless Iraqi city.

This time, the journalists spent about five weeks at three bases near Najaf, where they saw a peaceful, functioning city in which Marines helped rebuild schools and buildings, train security forces and bring a sense of normalcy to the war-torn nation. The Najaf region was the site of a deadly battle between Marines and an Iraqi militia in August, when seven Marines and hundreds of Iraqis were reportedly killed. But after that fighting stopped, Marines turned their attention to rebuilding, and the region remained relatively calm.

"We didn't hear a single shot or explosion that was done in hostility," Palmour said.

Mortenson said that with daily news headlines relaying instability and insurgent attacks in Iraq, it was important to document some of the successes that Camp Pendleton Marines were achieving there.

"I knew that the whole story hadn't been told," he said, noting that the war is ongoing and "what we saw was kind of this bright anomaly."

While the journalists worked tirelessly ---- Mortenson said he filed more than 30 stories ---- Palmour said their latest trip was safer and less stressful than the first two, when the duo often slept in dirt holes in the ground, ate irregularly and charged their equipment from vehicle engines.

"It's scary and it's dirty and it's hard and it's tiring," Mortenson said of the war.

Though a good night's sleep was still tough to come by on this trip, Mortenson and Palmour had a tent with electrical outlets and a desk. They also had regular mealtimes at the Marine chow hall.

The journalists said that while they'll miss the excitement of Iraq, they're glad to be back home and are looking forward to relaxing, traveling and taking some much-needed time off.

They started their journey home a week ago, and after several helicopter, airplane and bus rides and an awful lot of waiting, they arrived at Camp Pendleton Saturday evening.

While Palmour said the story in Iraq is nowhere near over, the journalists maintained they have no plans to go back to Iraq and feel their work there have been accomplished.

"I kept telling the Marines, if they ever invade a tropical island, gimme a call," Mortenson said.

Contact staff writer Ben Frumin at (760) 761-4408 or bfrumin@nctimes.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.